1973 Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council election
May 10, 1973 (1973-05-10)
All 60 Seats
31 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Party Labour Conservative Liberal
Seats won 40 20 0
Popular vote 66,860 58,175 10,270
Percentage 48.29% 42.02% 7.42%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Party National Front TUUF Ind. Labour Party
Seats won 0 0 0
Popular vote 1.232 692 636
Percentage 0.89% 0.5% 0.46%
  Seventh party
 
Party Communist
Seats won 0
Popular vote 593
Percentage 0.43%

The first elections to the Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council were held on 10 May 1973.

Background

The metropolitan district was one of the new authorities created by the Local Government Act 1972, which completely reorganised local administration in England and Wales. The new district, one of seven in the West Midlands, had an identical area to the existing County Borough of Wolverhampton. The first council was elected as a "shadow authority", with the reorganisation coming into effect in the following year on 1 April 1974. Subsequent to the election the shadow council successfully petitioned for a royal charter granting borough status, becoming Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council.[1]

Elections

At this first election all 60 councillors were elected, there being three councillors in each of the 20 wards. In an anomaly of the usual procedure for local elections, the candidate in first place was elected for 5 years, the candidate in second place for 3 years and the candidate in third place for 2 years. This was to allow for the "shadow" year of 1974 when the Metropolitan Borough Council was operating in shadow of the County Borough. From 1975 elections were by thirds with one councillor retiring in each ward.

Following the election the Labour Party had overall control of the council with 40 councillors to the Conservatives 20. Following the final county borough election held in 1972 the two parties had held 40 seats each on the 80 member council.[2]

Election results

The following councillors were returned in their corresponding wards:[3]

Bilston East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour D Turner (1st) 1891 34.02%
Labour T H Larkin (2nd) 1786 32.13%
Labour Mrs H Brown (3rd) 1603 28.84%
Conservative A G Cooper 278 5%
Turnout 5558 23.9
Bilston North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour P R Richards (1st) 1281 20.11%
Labour R Reynolds (2nd) 1137 17.85%
Labour R Davies (3rd) 1125 17.66%
Conservative W L Hughes 994 15.61%
Conservative R A M Marshall 932 14.63%
Conservative L S Draisey 900 14.13%
Turnout 6369 23.9
Blakenhall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative J Carpenter (1st) 2070 20.66%
Conservative Mrs J E Shore (2nd) 1996 19.92%
Conservative Mrs J L Shaw (3rd) 1992 19.88%
Labour J Hackwood 1389 13.86%
Labour G R Johnson 1335 13.32%
Labour Bishan Dass 1238 12.36%
Turnout 10020 37.8
Bushbury
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Mrs J Beddoes (1st) 1069 29.34%
Labour J A W Bird (2nd) 1055 28.96%
Labour E Mitchell (3rd) 998 27.4%
Conservative W Hillier 361 9.91%
National Front W A Murfin 160 4.39%
Turnout 3643 18.9
Eastfield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Ken Purchase (1st) 1452 31.01%
Labour P Ray (2nd) 1260 26.91%
Labour Mrs L Richards (3rd) 1235 26.38%
Conservative Mrs E H Allen 387 8.27%
National Front R Davison 204 4.36%
Communist G J Barnsby 144 3.08%
Turnout 4682 19.1
Ettingshall
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour E W Bold (1st) 1281 29.1%
Labour Mrs C Durham (2nd) 1091 24.78%
Labour A Storer (3rd) 1021 23.19%
Conservative W J Allen 458 10.4%
Conservative G D Phillips 455 10.34%
Communist F W Reeves 96 2.18%
Turnout 4402 19.1
Graiseley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour A G Barratt (1st) 1500 18.7%
Labour Mrs V A Fletcher (2nd) 1390 17.33%
Labour Mrs N Jones (3rd) 1367 17.04%
Conservative W H Etwell 1305 16.27%
Conservative R Dorsett 1258 15.69%
Conservative R J Thomas 1200 15.07%
Turnout 8020 35.1
Low Hill
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour D Hickmott (1st) 1026 31.32%
Labour Mrs W F K Reynolds (2nd) 1011 30.86%
Labour A C Laws (3rd) 966 29.49%
Conservative A Dixon 213 6.5%
Communist G Dorrance 60 1.83%
Turnout 3276 12.7
Merry Hill
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative W Clarke (1st) 2362 28.22%
Conservative J G Blackburn (2nd) 2329 27.83%
Conservative Robert Hart (3rd) 2119 25.32%
Labour Mrs M Everett 858 10.25%
Labour G Turner 702 8.39%
Turnout 8370 27.9
Oxley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour K Staves (1st) 1229 20.03%
Labour R Haynes (2nd) 1121 18.27%
Labour N Fryer (3rd) 1071 17.45%
Conservative H J Burton 879 14.32%
Conservative G Bangham 819 13.35%
Conservative P Withers 732 11.93%
National Front D E Foster 286 4.66%
Turnout 6137 27.4
Park
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative W J Morrison (1st) 1568 20.14%
Conservative Mrs M S Machin (2nd) 1565 20.1%
Conservative Mrs M W Hodson (3rd) 1523 19.56%
Labour Dr P Young 584 7.5%
Labour W Bruce 524 6.73%
Labour S G Stockley von Statzer 504 6.47%
Liberal Mrs W Lundgren 457 5.87%
Liberal R Gray 441 5.66%
Liberal K R Aithal 379 4.87%
National Front D G Gorton 240 3.08%
Turnout 7785 34.5
Parkfield
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour G Howells (1st) 1298
Labour H E Lace (2nd) 1287
Labour A E Steventon (3rd) 1118
Conservative B C Johnson 397
Conservative C Lenton 272
Conservative B Wood 240
Communist R A Millington 78
Penn
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative G A Bickley (1st) 2669
Conservative D J Rutherford (2nd) 2653
Conservative P Bradley (3rd) 2304
Liberal J Wernick 1961
Liberal A Robinson 1642
Liberal T D Bamford 1522
Labour Mrs M Garner 285
Labour D Aulton 277
St Peters
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour I G Claymore (1st) 1866
Labour Mr J James (2nd) 1533
Labour S R Sharma (3rd) 1211
TUUF G S Bains 692
ILP G Carter 636
Conservative H Cohen 620
Conservative E M Gibbs 488
Conservative B Thomas 432
National Front P Kane 242
Communist D Hamilton 106
Spring Vale
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour S Martin (1st) 2188
Labour N G Davies (2nd) 2040
Labour A Garner (3rd) 1933
Conservative Mrs P E Atkinson 413
Tettenhall Regis
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative S O Morton (1st) 1683
Conservative Mrs D M Seiboth (2nd) 1666
Conservative Mrs T M Comport (3rd) 1586
Liberal Larry Mclean 1213
Liberal H C Marshall 1027
Liberal M E Millar 950
Labour J M Smith 300
Labour R F Ilsley 285
Labour B Evans 278
Tettenhall Wightwick
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative G R Watson (1st) 1897
Conservative P G Snell (2nd) 1882
Conservative E G L Pearce (3rd) 1862
Liberal H Wright 677
Labour K P Jarrad 525
Labour W O Reilly 515
Labour R S Willett 493
Wednesfield Heath
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour H Turner (1st) 1265
Conservative C T Squire (2nd) 1239
Conservative A Griffiths (3rd) 1226
Labour R Garner 1198
Conservative F J Wadsworth 1176
Labour G Hicken 1171
Wednesfield North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour J A Morey (1st) 1649
Labour L Horton (2nd) 1623
Labour S H Reynolds (3rd) 1554
Conservative G H Parker 815
Conservative W J Curtiss 732
Conservative Mrs J M Curtiss 725
Communist A Barr 109
Wednesfield South
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Mrs C M Nicholls (1st) 1380
Labour J F Torrington (2nd) 1296
Labour Mrs E D Jevons (3rd) 1102
Conservative H L Turner 908
Conservative Mrs D M Brooks 813
Conservative C F Brueton 809

References

  1. ↑ Local government in England and Wales: A Guide to the New System. London: HMSO. 1974. p. 24. ISBN 0-11-750847-0.
  2. ↑ "Widespread Labour gains in borough elections". The Times. 5 May 1972.
  3. ↑ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael. "Wolverhampton City Council Election Results 1973-2012" (PDF). The Elections Centre. Plymouth University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
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